Hi, my name is Jo and I am running the London Marathon for my chosen charity and employer, Kent Association for the Blind. I have been working from KAB for the past 18 years and am truly privileged to witness the wonderful work we do on a daily basis.

Imagine how you would feel if you started to lose your sight, it is something that we just do not think about as it is such a terrifying thought. How would you do things, from simple day to day tasks such as making a cup of tea and making a sandwich, to cooking, managing to do laundry, reading your post, paying bills and doing banking? Could you still go out and work, keep in touch with friends, socialise, go on holiday? Take a minute and just think how sight loss would impact on every part of your life.

Kent Association for the Blind is the county’s specialist charity working with sight impaired adults and children in Kent, Medway and the London Borough of Bromley.

Working for KAB means I can see on a day to day basis the help and support that we dedicate to our service users. From meeting our Eye Clinic Liaison Officers at hospitals when their conditions are initially diagnosed, to receiving assistance in their homes and help navigating their local area from our rehabilitation workers, to having support available when they need it from our team of counsellors, to support from our Assistive Technology workers who help them with all things phone, tablet and IT related, to meeting new friends through our befriending service and our many clubs and groups, or meeting other young people on the activities we organise.

A little bit about me, I’m 50 years old and I have been working from Kent Association for the Blind for 18 years and have been running for five, I am not a natural runner and if you had said to me a while ago that I would be planning to run a marathon I would have thought you were mad. When I am not working or training for a marathon I am a wife, mother to two daughters and have a very active springer spaniel.

I am so grateful for any support you can give me, however small, to help continue KAB’s good work.